Mavericks Were 'Never' Going To Offer Luka Doncic Five-Year, $345M Supermax Extension

[cheese318]

Wasn't going to pay him the max for good reason.

He's the type of player who can't get you over the hump no matter how much you build around him as a franchise player because his mind's not in the right place: the most important thing to Luka is scoring.

The real greats win championships with the team's they are drafted by, when they fail to, a lot of times it's because they had an underwhelming supporting cast.

Sounds like the problem is with the GM then. If you can’t build around a player who can get you to the conference finals and finals then that’s a problem. The reality is a lot of these owners care more about profit margins than they do about winning a title.

The notion that real greats win with the teams that drafted them is misleading. In order to build through the draft you have to lose in order to get top draft picks or you have to be drafted into a good situation. For example, look at the number of top 11 draft picks the bulls had in the 5 years after drafting Jordan. Or the fact that Tim Duncan was basically drafted to a team that was winning 55-62 games prior Robinson’s injury which resulted in them getting Duncan. Compare that to the Cavs situation before/after drafting LeBron.

Lebron's first stint in CLE is a good comp. DAL tried to build around Luka too early and ran low on draft assets or positive tradeable contracts. If they gave Luka a max, they would be doing it while knowing they didn't have the resources to build a contender around him. Kyrie doesn't have many years left and with his reputation around the league, I don't think you could trade him for a return that is better than keeping him. DAL has been treading water for years, poised between sinking and swimming based on Luka's health. The rest of the roster was too thin to float while he was out. With Lebron, health and fitness were never an issue.

CLE 1.0 never had a talent like Kyrie in his prime next to LBJ so let’s not compare . Mind you Luka only had him for a year and a half. In his first full season with Kyrie they did make it to the NBA Finals.

[hyberx]

Sounds like the problem is with the GM then. If you can’t build around a player who can get you to the conference finals and finals then that’s a problem. The reality is a lot of these owners care more about profit margins than they do about winning a title.

The notion that real greats win with the teams that drafted them is misleading. In order to build through the draft you have to lose in order to get top draft picks or you have to be drafted into a good situation. For example, look at the number of top 11 draft picks the bulls had in the 5 years after drafting Jordan. Or the fact that Tim Duncan was basically drafted to a team that was winning 55-62 games prior Robinson’s injury which resulted in them getting Duncan. Compare that to the Cavs situation before/after drafting LeBron.

Lebron's first stint in CLE is a good comp. DAL tried to build around Luka too early and ran low on draft assets or positive tradeable contracts. If they gave Luka a max, they would be doing it while knowing they didn't have the resources to build a contender around him. Kyrie doesn't have many years left and with his reputation around the league, I don't think you could trade him for a return that is better than keeping him. DAL has been treading water for years, poised between sinking and swimming based on Luka's health. The rest of the roster was too thin to float while he was out. With Lebron, health and fitness were never an issue.

CLE 1.0 never had a talent like Kyrie in his prime next to LBJ so let’s not compare . Mind you Luka only had him for a year and a half. In his first full season with Kyrie they did make it a to a Finals.

+1

If Luka had a Chris Bosh in addition to Kyrie, he would have won that final. If Luka had a Kevin Love in his prime + Kyrie + getting the opposing team's best all around player suspended on a pivotal game, he would also have won it.

[Jax_23]

Post-Cuban Mavericks have become a clown franchise overnight. Dumbazz owner and FO. Of course they wouldn't offer Doncic a supermax. This is on-brand with their hall of fame level incompetence.

Boycott!

[Jax_23]

Wasn't going to pay him the max for good reason.

He's the type of player who can't get you over the hump no matter how much you build around him as a franchise player because his mind's not in the right place: the most important thing to Luka is scoring.

The real greats win championships with the team's they are drafted by, when they fail to, a lot of times it's because they had an underwhelming supporting cast.

Congrats on your Niko Harrison-level analysis as well. Holy sht lmao

[Jax_23]

Wasn't going to pay him the max for good reason.

He's the type of player who can't get you over the hump no matter how much you build around him as a franchise player because his mind's not in the right place: the most important thing to Luka is scoring.

The real greats win championships with the team's they are drafted by, when they fail to, a lot of times it's because they had an underwhelming supporting cast.

I know it's unpopular opinion with the younger generation who cares more about NBA 2K ratings and stat lines, but it's true. He got exposed in the NBA Finals. I am a C's fan of course, but even the national media called him out for lack of defense.

It's also last year's playoff run where Michael Finely pulled the beer right out of Luka's hands, and he didn't look too happy (I'm not talking about Luka). So yeah there must have been something brewing.

Luka seems to get a free pass because he hasn't had any major injuries.... yet. But he's mostly played 60 something games per season so he's been missing a good bit in his early 20 years. His conditioning issues is really no different than Zion's. Only issue is Zion has had the major and recurring injuries. So the masses will jump on Zion, but still give the free pass to Luka? Makes no sense to me.

U people are HIGH

[Pickled Prunes]

Lebron's first stint in CLE is a good comp. DAL tried to build around Luka too early and ran low on draft assets or positive tradeable contracts. If they gave Luka a max, they would be doing it while knowing they didn't have the resources to build a contender around him. Kyrie doesn't have many years left and with his reputation around the league, I don't think you could trade him for a return that is better than keeping him. DAL has been treading water for years, poised between sinking and swimming based on Luka's health. The rest of the roster was too thin to float while he was out. With Lebron, health and fitness were never an issue.

CLE 1.0 never had a talent like Kyrie in his prime next to LBJ so let’s not compare . Mind you Luka only had him for a year and a half. In his first full season with Kyrie they did make it a to a Finals.

+1

If Luka had a Chris Bosh in addition to Kyrie, he would have won that final. If Luka had a Kevin Love in his prime + Kyrie + getting the opposing team's best all around player suspended on a pivotal game, he would also have won it.

I don't personally think so. DAL got down 0-3 before their on blowout victory. And Tatum played like a bum... but it's possible I guess. My points were:
1) DAL does not have a Love or a Bosh and had no assets or players to trade and get that type of player.
2) This Kyrie is not that Kyrie. He's 8 years older than Luka, on a different timeline, and because of his previously "erratic" behavior, it would cost more than they had to trade him for a similar but younger player.

[AWIZZINGBULLET]

Wasn't going to pay him the max for good reason.

He's the type of player who can't get you over the hump no matter how much you build around him as a franchise player because his mind's not in the right place: the most important thing to Luka is scoring.

The real greats win championships with the team's they are drafted by, when they fail to, a lot of times it's because they had an underwhelming supporting cast.

Dirk was the kind of player who couldn't get you over the hump, until he did.

Luka reached his first Finals a year earlier into his career than Dirk did. It was another 5 year later Dirk made it back and won it. If they shipped him the year after they lost then Mavs would have been an irrelevant franchise.

LeBron got bounced by the Spurs and then went on to win 4 of them. This is kind of a joke.

Doncic and Dirk Nowitzki are two totally different types of human beings on-court and off as it pertains to basketball, and I'm almost certain that that is what went into the decision to not pay him that hefty amount of money.

Dirk Nowitzki is a legitimate Mavericks legend who is deserving of his own statue, Doncic likes to drink beers after games and look at his VP of Basketball Operations with dismissive disregard for trying to impart on him that he's not above team standards.

[AWIZZINGBULLET]

Wasn't going to pay him the max for good reason.

He's the type of player who can't get you over the hump no matter how much you build around him as a franchise player because his mind's not in the right place: the most important thing to Luka is scoring.

The real greats win championships with the team's they are drafted by, when they fail to, a lot of times it's because they had an underwhelming supporting cast.

Congrats on your Niko Harrison-level analysis as well. Holy sht lmao

And Doncic is still not a Mav, still not on the same level as Dirk Nowitzki as a player or in terms of Mavericks lore, and still sitting under 40% shooting as a Laker.

[The Servant]

Wasn't going to pay him the max for good reason.

He's the type of player who can't get you over the hump no matter how much you build around him as a franchise player because his mind's not in the right place: the most important thing to Luka is scoring.

The real greats win championships with the team's they are drafted by, when they fail to, a lot of times it's because they had an underwhelming supporting cast.

Dirk was the kind of player who couldn't get you over the hump, until he did.

Luka reached his first Finals a year earlier into his career than Dirk did. It was another 5 year later Dirk made it back and won it. If they shipped him the year after they lost then Mavs would have been an irrelevant franchise.

LeBron got bounced by the Spurs and then went on to win 4 of them. This is kind of a joke.

Doncic and Dirk Nowitzki are two totally different types of human beings on-court and off as it pertains to basketball, and I'm almost certain that that is what went into the decision to not pay him that hefty amount of money.

Dirk Nowitzki is a legitimate Mavericks legend who is deserving of his own statue, Doncic likes to drink beers after games and look at his VP of Basketball Operations with dismissive disregard for trying to impart on him that he's not above team standards.

Man carried a roster of bums to the Finals. The horrors of having a celebratory beer!

Mavs won't see another Finals for 20 years. Nico's time as GM will go down as all time tripping.

[Jax_23]

Wasn't going to pay him the max for good reason.

He's the type of player who can't get you over the hump no matter how much you build around him as a franchise player because his mind's not in the right place: the most important thing to Luka is scoring.

The real greats win championships with the team's they are drafted by, when they fail to, a lot of times it's because they had an underwhelming supporting cast.

Congrats on your Niko Harrison-level analysis as well. Holy sht lmao

And Doncic is still not a Mav, still not on the same level as Dirk Nowitzki as a player or in terms of Mavericks lore, and still sitting under 40% shooting as a Laker.

Wait, you're serious?